What If?: The Dark Alternative
by AhonUchiha1081999
Summary: Starkiller has embraced the dark side. Defeating his former Master on the first Death Star, the only thing standing between him and power is Rahm Kota. But will he betray his friend? Or will he turn on his new master, The Emperor?
1. Chapter 1

"… or I will destroy you both." The Emperor said, excitement dripping from his raspy voice. Galen Marek, codenamed Starkiller, looked down upon the writhing form of Rahm Kota, his former enemy turned mentor under traitorous circumstances wrought upon by Starkillers late Master, Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, now only an empty shell on the bottom level of the Throne Room.

As Starkiller watched Kota crawl blindly on the floor, he weighed his options. In killing his former Master, he had decided to fully embrace the dark side, and all that came with it. This included severing anything that made him weak. At first, he had an urge to turn around and strike down the Emperor, but this diminished in a second. The Emperors powers of precognition were well known, and Starkiller predicted that the Emperor would strike him down in an instant. Still, the urge was ever so present, and for a moment he half turned to do it. Then a thought occurred to him. The quickest way to power as through the Emperor. Through him he was allowed the one thing he always wanted; revenge on all who wronged him. First Vader, and now Kota. His anger boiled as he remembered Kota's comment when they had first met

"A boy? Months of attacking Imperial targets, and Vader sends a boy to fight me?"

He seethed at this comment alone. This raging inferno was only stoked by Kota's repeated uselessness, not to mention pitiful weakness to drink. He raised his cyan blade high in the air, letting his anger build into one, sweeping strike into the center of the old man's abdomen. He sensed the shock in Kota's being, replaced by confusion and disappointment.

_ Regretting all the times you led me to weakness, old man? _Starkiller thought scornfully

As Kota lay dead on the floor, Starkiller allowed the dark side to fully encompass him. Let it fill his pores with fiery rage, empowering his being and dominating his looming regret.

"Good, good!" the Emperor cackled behind him "I sensed the conflict within you, did you plan to betray me?"

Starkiller turned to the grinning figure of the Emperor. On the outside, he seemed to be a frail old man, well beyond his prime and easily defeated. But Starkiller knew better. He knew this thing wasn't human. The Emperor was the very embodiment of evil, his power flowing off of him in dark waves that matched Starkillers own.

"I did, my Master, but you are my path to power" Starkiller said after a pause.

"Yes… You know cannot, and never will, destroy me." The Emperor threatened.

"Yes, my Master" replied Starkiller.

The Emperor shuffled back to his chair, sitting down and turning to the other Rebel prisoners as if noticing them for the first time. He then turned to Starkiller. Starkiller, without a word, walked towards the collection of Rebel Leaders. Bail Organa was already yelling at him when he got there.

"How could you!? You betrayed the very Alliance you created! And you killed your mentor! You-"

Organa was cut off by Starkillers lightsaber slicing across his torso. Organas eyes widened for a moment before losing their life completely. After about five minutes, the rest followed Organa in suit. The whole time this happened, Starkiller smiled. He could feel his weakness slowly evaporating, as if it were a cold he had just recovered from. But this cold still had one symptom left.

The Rogue Shadow hovered outside the viewscreen behind the Emperor's Throne. Starkiller saw its pilot, former Imperial Captain Juno Eclipse, betrayed and tortured by Vader, but rescued by Starkiller onboard the _Empirical_, the science craft that now burned at the center of a sun. Starkiller used the Force to enhance his vision and watch the expression of shock on Juno's face as she saw the dead under his feet. He could sense her disbelief and denial, followed by seething acceptance. She made to break away from the Death Star's orbit, no doubt planning to escape.

But Starkiller couldn't have that. If she escaped, he would still be weak. He reached out with the Force, imagining a giant invisible hand gripping the stealth ship. The ship stopped mid-flight. The Emperor cackled. Starkiller tightened his grip, watching the metal hull slowly implode. Before he could collapse the ship into a black metal ball, an escape pod jettisoned. Starkiller reacted. Releasing his grip on _Shadow, _he turned to grab the pod. But he had forgotten the recent improvements made on his ship. Before he could grab it, the pod utilized the Empire's experimental reduced-size hyperdrive to blast into hyperspace, the faster-than-light-travel vortex.

Starkiller was stunned for a few seconds, then he converted the surprise into rage. Rage towards Juno, for escaping him. For making him weak. He turned to his new Master, his anger boiling over.

"I sense your anger, young Starkiller. I sense your desire to crush the woman." The Emperor said, closing his physical eyes only to open his mental ones to peer into Starkiller's thoughts.

"Yes, my Master. I will destroy her" Starkiller replied, his anger coming off him in waves.

"Patience. In time, she will come to you." The Emperor replied, reopening his eyes and activating the comm on his Throne. "Captain, send a cleaning crew to clean the mess in my throne room. Save the lightsaber of Vader and present it to me when you're finished"

"L-Lord Vader is dead, Your Highness? We'll send a crew right away." Replied the Captain, his voice crackling over the comm, but still conveying his sense of relief.

The Emperor turned to Starkiller. "From here own, you cast aside your birthname and claim the honorary title of Darth Starkiller. You will no longer be weak with the powers of a Jedi, but an advocate of the dark side. I always knew you would defeat my former apprentice; he was a broken shadow of his former self"

Starkiller bowed "What is thy bidding, my Master?"

"Unfortunately, this pitiful resistance does not end here. Other allies of Senator Organa will rally behind his death, and these first moments are crucial. We must crush the Rebellion before other worlds think they can defy me." Said the Emperor contemplatively "You will travel to the Alderaan system. My spies tell me a ship left that system a few days ago, under the guise of a diplomatic mission. Senator Organa's daughter is aboard there, and she is every bit rebellious as her father."

Starkiller recalled his meeting with the Senator's daughter. She had instructed him to destroy the Sky Hook on Kashyykk, which transported Wookie slaves out of the system. She, like all the others, had made the mistake of ordering him around. She would end up like the rest of the Rebels she chose to ally herself with.

"I will leave at once, my Master." Starkiller replied, rising from his bow and turning to leave. He saw the cleaning crew hauling out the body of Vader, and, upon seeing Starkiller, sharing shocked glances. Starkiller reached out with the Force and recalled Vader's lightsaber to his palm, clipping it on the belt of his Jedi robes. He realized he would need a change of attire and weapon.

"You will find what you need on your new ship, Lord Starkiller" said the Emperor, sensing his thoughts.

Starkiller pointed to one of the nearby stormtroopers "You, trooper, lead me to my ship"

"Yes, sir!" the stormtrooper said, standing erect and then turning to march out of the room.

Starkiller followed the soldier out of the Throne Room and out into the balcony, where the cleaning crew was also disposing of the body of the Shadow Guard that Starkiller had dispatched of. He realized that only moments ago he was a weak Jedi, battling to save the very things that sapped his power. He felt pride at having risen above these useless emotions. As Starkiller and the trooper made their way down the lift towards the hangar level, he examined the blade of his fallen Master. Dark ridges were embedded into the circumference on the lower part of the hilt, while a square power cell was wrapped above it. The tip of the blade sported a beveled emitter shroud. At the center of this shroud stood a stick-like blade emitter, which released the crimson saber that had once pierced Starkiller's chest. The whole thing radiated dark side energy, not nearly matching Starkiller's own power.

When the lift stopped at Hangar 11-B, the doors opened to reveal a Sith Infiltrator. Starkiller had read that the once-thought deceased Sith Lord Darth Maul had used an Infiltrator to track the Jedi's Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi to the dust planet of Tatooine. He had also discovered the boy Anakin Skywalker, who would become Vader, and who would eventually be destroyed by Starkiller himself.

_ All that just to perish at his apprentice's hand. Vader really was weak. _Starkiller thought, his pride inflating.

Starkiller crossed the hangar towards his new ship, whose tags designated it as the _Dark Scythe_. Starkiller used the Force to lower the entrance ramp and allow himself to enter the sleek starfighter. As he entered his quarters, he opened his closet to find a fully-stocked wardrobe, much like the one he had aboard the _Shadow_, but adorned with darker outfits befitting of a Sith Lord. Starkiller picked out a dark, armored suit. The full body suit had quilted material along the lower pectoral region and down the arms, leading to rubber-like gloves tipped by silver claws. On the stomach there was ribbed abominable pattern that led to the silver belt with multiple hooks, no doubt to hold many lightsabers. The lower portion of the armor was trailed by a dark cloak with purposeful rips torn through it.

Starkiller removed his Jedi robes, throwing them into the nearby wastebasket, but not before removing both Vader's lightsaber and his own. Before he adorned his new robes, he took his lightsaber to the nearby meditation chamber to make the changes he wanted. Entering the chamber, he noticed a large cabinet in the corner. Investigating further, he found several lightsaber components, including a spiked tip that Starkiller favored immediately. Grabbing it and other components, including a padded grip and red crystal, he sat on the slick black floor and meditated. He allowed his anger to fill his being, reciting the Sith Code in his mind until his power peak. He ripped apart his old lightsaber, using his power to crush every individual part, relishing the destruction of yet another object of weakness. He was about to destroy the crystal when he remembered something he had learned. Some crystals could be changed depending on the user's power in the Force. Starkiller focused his hatred on the cyan crystal, feeling it twist and bend to his will. The blue gem slowly darkened, becoming almost black, and then pulsated with red, creating a color that mirrored his hate. The crystal hovered there while it was joined by the other parts, all coming together to form one sinister hilt.

Starkiller stood, snatched his blade from the air, and activated it. He assumed his backhand grip, feeling out the new weight and power of the blade, doing some of his basic saber exercises to get a feel for it. When he was done, he deactivated it and made his way back to his chambers. He quickly put on his new attire, stretching for a moment to adjust to the new armor. He looked into the closet and saw a helmet that seemingly went with the outfit. The front of the helmet was that of the famous Ubese bounty hunter Boushh, only with a t-visor that was sharp at the ends. Adorning the sides of the helmet were armor flaps that extended away from the face, resembling Vader's dark visage.

Realizing the helmet's resemblance to that of his former Master, his rage boiled. He grabbed the helmet and crushed it between his two hands, disposing of it ruefully into the sharp-objects disposal chute. Once he had calmed a degree, and placed his former Master's blade on his silver belt, he finally made his way to the cockpit.


	2. Chapter 2

_Schooom! _The _Scythe _came out of hyperspace with a great whooshing noise, orbiting just outside the planet of Alderaan. Darth Starkiller rapped his clawed fingers on the armrests of his captain's chair, gazing at the lush orb from which the transport he was searching for departed. According to the information received by the Emperor's large network of spies, several ships had left the planet at once, all the same model and supposed mission. But, through infiltration and deceit, the spies had learned that only one housed the daughter of the late Bail Organa, Senator Leia Organa. This was the ship that Starkiller searched for.

The nearby holocommunicator crackled to life. The translucent blue form of Captain Keenah appeared on the _Scythe's _helm.

"My Lord, our informants tell us that the ship never left the Alderaan system. Imperial saboteurs disabled the craft's hyperdrive engines and damaged most of their forward engines." Said Keenah "They are now transmitting the ships coordinates to us. Forwarding the location to you now"

Captain Keenah took out a datapad, and, making a few quick movements across its screen, transferred the ships coordinates to the navicomputer of the _Scythe. _Keenah then saluted and fizzled out of the transmission. Wasting no time, Starkiller punched in the location into his autopilot system, letting the ship guide itself into the stars. Starkiller then rose from his seat, turned around, and exited towards his quarters. Once there, he sat upon his bed, which was covered with velvet sheets that bore the color of blood, and gathered his rage. After seething for ten minutes, there was a sharp beep that emitted from the bridge, signaling his arrival at the predetermined coordinates.

Starkiller slid off his bed and made his way to the bridge once more. He only stayed there long enough to activate the radar cloaking system, and then he turned and made his way to the airlock. Stepping inside, he closed the airtight door behind him, and gathered the Force around him. He used it to form a large bubble of air around himself, allowing nothing else through. He then punched the emergency override, and shot out into the void of space.

Once outside, he shot towards the vessel, marked _Tantive IV,_ with breakneck speed. Once near the ship, he slowed to a stop in front of the enemy ship's airlock, using the Force to open them and enter. Once he was inside and the door closed behind him, he pushed the button that started the oxygen cycle. After a red light flashed above him, letting him know the cycle was complete, he released the bubble of air around him. Starkiller then blasted the inner airlock open, stepping onto the Rebel ship.

"Intruder!" yelled a Rebel soldier, hoisting up his gun to take aim at the Sith Lord.

Starkiller raised a hand, letting fly a bolt of violet electricity that hit the soldier in the chest. Starkiller relished the feeling of the soldier's death, allowing it to fuel his power as he made his way down the metal corridor. As he was about to step into a larger corridor that led to the other parts of the craft, large, steel doors enclosed the space in front of him. Starkiller was stunned for a moment, then enraged at the obstacle in front of him. Centering all his energy on his right palm, he made a pushing motion at the door, watching it shoot out across the hall and into a few unsuspecting Rebel guards. Stepping into the forked corridor, he paused for a moment in an attempt to sense the Princess. He located her at the helm of the vessel, and turned left at the fork towards there.

As the doors hissed open to the bridge, Starkiller was barraged by blaster fire. Two of the bolts ricocheted off his steel pauldrons before he activated his lightsaber and blocked or deflected the rest of the onslaught. There was a split-second pause between the shots, and Starkiller used this opportunity to kill all the soldiers with Sith Lightning. As their corpses lay writhing on the floor, Starkiller made his way towards the helm, using the Force to open the door.

Princess Leia turned as Starkiller entered, looking at him with disgust before yelling "Now!" to the pilot. Starkiller was hit with a huge amount of lightning emanating from all sides. At first he was stunned, and nearly lost consciousness, but then used his hatred to slide forward. Before he could reach the Princess, she pulled out a small blaster rifle and turned the dial from kill to stun. Her aim was perfect as she shot him in the forehead. For Starkiller, after that, everything was black…


End file.
